KOCHI: Justin Paul is a role model for every student in Kerala. Having risen through the state’s general education system, Justin holds dual employment as a visiting professor at the University of Reading’s Henley Business School in England and as a professor with the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan. Now his expertise in his chosen field has put him among the most cited researchers in the world for 2021. To be precise, among the top 1% in the list prepared by Web of Science, an academic website maintained by the United States-based public analytics company Clarivate. And he is the only Keralite in the list in the subjects of business and economics.
“There is no other researcher with a primary Indian affiliation in the list,” says Justin, who has carved out a place for himself as the go-to person in the field of marketing and international business. “My articles have been downloaded over eight lakh times in the past six years. That led to my name being included in the list, which is like the Google search list for top researchers in the world,” says Justin, who has published over 130 research papers in Social Sciences Citation Index journals, and 150 in Scopus.
Hailing from Avittappilly in Mattathur panchayat in Thrissur, Justin went to the Government LP School in his village. Growing up through St Joseph’s UP School, Avittappilly, and SKHS, Mattathur, he went on to earn a doctorate in management studies at IIT-Mumbai. A mixture of hard work and passion has brought him to where he is, says the 45-year-old. His career took a decisive turn at 29, when he became the youngest faculty member in IIMs in 2004. “I strove to attain what I wanted,” he says.
Passionate about writing, he published his first book at the age of 29. That was just a start. He soon followed up with five more books, all of which are in their second and third editions. “The European Chamber of Commerce in its Global Commerce License testing uses one of my books,” he says.
On the success formula that youngsters can use, he says, “Young entrepreneurs need to understand, and practice, that marketing success is equal to function (product or service, promotion, strategies). Product strategy means product innovation, differentiation to meet the needs of different segments of customers and service strategy requires efforts to ensure service quality. Give emphasis to digital marketing using websites and social media channels to engage new gen customers.”
In the post-pandemic era, entrepreneurs will succeed if they prepare a business plan keeping in mind factors like potential, path, processes, pattern, pace and problems.“They need to understand and anticipate expected and unexpected problems, and devise strategies to overcome such problems,” Justin stresses.
He says the current business scenario in the state can be improved by setting up small business promotion offices and new venture incubation centres in all engineering colleges, business schools, polytechnics and industrial training institutes. “Such cells can also be set up and strengthened in all block and grama panchayats to encourage unemployed young people to become entrepreneurs,” the professor points out.
Justin currently serves as the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Consumer Studies, a global academic journal ranked as ‘A’ grade by the Australian Business Deans Council.